Republican Chair Race : Former Reagan Aide Norm Hughes Jumps Into Race

Norm Hughes with Ronald & Nancy Reagan circa 1980s

Norm Hughes who was a former aid to Ronald Reagan and was an architect of Michigan's Right To Work initiative,  and is currently the President of MiCPAC, Mi. Conservative Union, and is involved with many other Conservative efforts has decided to run for Michigan Republican Chairman.   He is joined by Marian Sheridan, Lakes Area TEA Party leader and Vice President of the Greater West Bloomfield Republican club and former board member of the old 9th Congressional District Republican Committee. 

Marian Sheridan

Norm is a professional architectural engineer and long-time conservative leader in Michigan going back to the 1960s, Norm Hughes held three positions in the Ronald Reagan administration and is co-author of Michigan’s landmark Tax Limitation Amendment. Many encouraged Norm to run for chair in 2013 but he choose to back Todd Courser at that time.  It was Norm's leadership that almost gave Todd the Chairmanship over Bobby Schostak

Below is the text of the radio introduction Jay Macknally did on Norm on his radio show in March of 2012

Norm Hughes is a 1969 graduate of Architecture at Lawrence Technological University where he was class president three years and student government president his senior year. He took 50 additional hours in engineering. Mr. Hughes also studied at University of Detroit Law School, University of Michigan graduate school of engineering, and continuing education studies at Eastern Michigan University and University of Wisconsin, and has taught graduate architecture students at Lawrence Tech. He has won several Who’s Who awards in the design and build industries and has had his own design and construction management company for more than 30 years.

 Mr. Hughes has been involved in the conservative movement since 1964. He served as Chair of the Conservative Party of Michigan, Michigan Conservative Union and on the board of the American Conservative Union. Mr. Hughes was Michigan Executive Director of the 1976 Reagan Campaign and was a Reagan Delegate to the National GOP Conventions in 1976 and 1980. In 1984 Mr. Hughes was a presidential elector and was selected to put Reagan’s name into nomination at the meeting of the Electoral College. Mr. Hughes also served as chair of county and district Republican committees and was a Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in 1978 and 1980.

 Mr. Hughes served in the Reagan Administrations as Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Conservation and Renewable Energy, U.S. Department of Energy; as Senior Policy Advisor and Associate Director designate for Emergency Operations at FEMA; as a Presidentially appointed member of the U.S. Architectural and Barriers Free Compliance Board; and for several years on the White House Speakers Bureau.

 Mr. Hughes is now involved with the North Oakland Tea Party Patriots and is working on a plan to involve tea party activists in bringing about needed changes in our state and local governments. Norm Hughes will share some of his experiences with Ronald Reagan and working within the Federal government, will share lessons from previous conservative movement activities, and will lay out a blue print on how we can move the tea party enthusiasm from protest to action, as we prepare to go from campaigning to governing.

Due to Norm's credibility he immediately joins Ronna Romney McDaniel and Dr. Kimberly Shmina as the leaders in the race.  Two other known candidates at the time of this article are David Wolkinson - former Bentivolio Campaign Manager and former 40th District State Hose Rep Candidate and Joel Poynter- Lake County Republican Chairman.s

Ronna Romney McDaniel announced earlier this afternoon her running mate to will be former two time MSU Trustee candidate Jeff Sakwa.

****UPDATE*****  Joel Poynter is out and is supporting Norm Hughes.

***Update 1/23/15 ***  Dave Wolkinson has dropped out of the race

Race for Republican Chair In Michigan Heats Up: 4 Candidates In - More To Follow?

As of  the initial filing deadline of Monday January 5th, 2015 four candidates have  filed to run for Michigan Republican Party Chair.  Mitt Romney's niece, Ronna Romney McDaniel of Northville, Kim Shmina of Fair Haven, David Wolkinson of Birmingham and Joel Poynter of Baldwin 

 Former State Rep. Pete Lund of Shelby Township, who expressed early interest, has yet to decided whether he will run.

 Other potential candidates could still meet the requirements for a late filing deadline by January 22.

Other potential candidates include longtime conservative activist Norm Hughes and Former State Rep. Tom McMillin. Current 14th District Chair Paul Welday is officially out and backing Romney McDaniel.

Reports on Facebook indicate that Norm Hughes maybe considering jumping in.  Norm is a professional architect and long-time conservative leader in Michigan going back to the 1960s, Norm

Facebook post on 12/31/14 hinting Norm might run

held three positions in the Ronald Reagan administration and is co-author of Michigan’s landmark Tax Limitation Amendment. Many encouraged Norm to run for chair in 2013 but he choose to back Todd Courser at that time.  It was Norm's leadership that almost gave Todd the Chairmanship over Bobby Schostak. 

Norm Hughes with Ronald & Nancy Reagan circa early 80s

Kimberly Shmina

Kimberly Shmina, serves on the executive committee of the St. Clair County Republican Party and is vice chair of the 10th Congressional District GOP committee. She’s also a certified nurse practitioner with a Doctoral degree and teaches at Wayne State University.

David Wolkinson

David Wolkinson previously worked as Campaign Manger for former 11th District Congressman Kerry Bentivolio before he stepped aside and Barb Bulic of Macomb County took over that campaign.  David also worked as a policy director on Gov. Rick Snyder’s 2010 campaign and ran for state House in 2012, losing in the 40th District GOP primary by roughly 300 votes.  Some believe Wolkinson may be in the race to run interference with Shmina who is running a tough campaign against Romney McDaniel. 

Joel Poynter, is chairman of the Lake County Republican Party. He’s an engineer who contracted with Delphi and worked with Detroit automakers.

Poynter believes the current State Party leadership is not standing strong with the Republican platform.  He also said he thought GOP leaders erred when they asked Republican National Committeeman Dave Agema to resign for controversial anti-gay comments.

“Dave didn’t say anything that really wasn’t part of the platform,” said Poynter, referencing the party’s official stance on gay marriage. “But yet some at the state level really tried to crucify him. I have a problem with that. If it’s in the platform, why are you crucifying this guy?”

Ronna Romney McDaniel has been involved in politics most of her life coming from the political

Ronna Romney McDaniel

Romney family.  She has been described as one that has done everything from fundraising to knocking on doors to making calls to legislators encouraging them to support Right to Work in Michigan.

Right now the two top contenders are Ronna Romney McDaniel and Kimberly Shmina.  It is however anyone's game at this point and as more people get to know Joel Poynter he will climb in the polls.  The biggest game changer will come if Norm Hughes or Tom McMillin decide to jump into the race. 

Race For Michigan Republican Chair: Dr Kimberbly Shmina Is In

Earlier today Dr. Kimberly Shmina of Fair Haven, Michigan announced that she is now an official candidate for Michigan Republican Party Chair as Bobby Schostak announced that he is not running

Dr. Kimberly Shmina

for a third term.

Dr. Shmina previously ran in a hard fought school board race in Algonac where her goal was to curb the out of control spending and to fight the introduction of Common Core curriculum into the Algonac school district.

On her website  Dr. Kimberly Shmina says "In running for party chairperson, my main goal is to use a team approach to heal and grow our party in a manner that is inclusive and builds on the strengths of all of our members. It is a time for unity in order to ensure that strong conservatives are elected. I believe I am the leader who can help transform our party."

Dr. Shmina joins Ronna Romney McDaniel - a long time party activist, formerState Committee Woman, current Republican National Committee Woman and niece of  former Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, 

Also being mentioned in being interested or encouraged to run include, former Senatorial Candidate Terry Lynn Land who ran in 2010 before dropping out and endorsing  Bobby Schostak,  former MSU Trustee candidate Jeff Sakwa, current 14th District Chairman and long time party operative Paul Welday,  Kent County GOP Chair Dave Dishaw , Pete Lund and term linted but very conservative State Representative Tom McMillin.  However it has only been reported that Pete Lund and Tom McMillin have come out publicly about considering a run for State Chair.  Will they jump in after the first of the year?  

The Race For Michigan Republican Chair: Who Else Is In?

After current Chairman Bobby Schostak announced that he will not run for a third term, current Michigan National Committeewoman and Mitt Romney's niece, Ronna Romney McDaniel announced that she was running for Republican State Chair.

Now additional names are being mentioned.

Pete Lund

Pete Lund  is currently a term limited State Representative for Michigan’s 36th district has publicly stated “If he’s (Bobby Schostak) out, I’m probably in.. “I’m talking to people hypothetically about things, and I feel very good about the response.”  As State Rep. , Pete Lund was selected to head the House Republican Campaign Review Task Force, a precursor to being selected as Chairman of the House Republican Campaign Committee.

A sponsored advertisement, in which Pete mention's his consideration if Bobby Schostak doesn't run,is currently running on Facebook which gives indication that Pete is ready to jump in

Another Candidate Kimberly Shmina  of Fair Haven (St. Clair County) has formed an exploratory committee.  

Kimberly & Michael Shmina

Kimberly is married to Michael Shmina who in 2010 ran for State Representative against and lost to Andrea La Fountain in Michigan’s 32nd district. Kimberly most recently ran for the Algonac School Board (St. Clair County).  

Kimberly Shmina say’s “  I am very conservative and my primary goal would be to help unite the

party using our conservative principles and to encourage teamwork and open and honest expression! I cannot stand the direction our country , state and communities are now headed. It seems freedom too often takes a back seat to the needs of special interests and the vocal minority”

Also being mentioned in being interested or encouraged to run include, former Senatorial Candidate Terry Lynn Land who ran in 2010 before dropping out and endorsing  Bobby Schostak,  former MSU Trustee candidate Jeff Sakwa, current 14th District Chairman and long time party operative Paul Welday,  Kent County GOP Chair Dave Dishaw and term linted but very conservative State Representative Tom McMillin.